Innocence
by Ying Tao
Summary: Bakura became a friend and brother to the crown prince Atemu, growing up without memory of his early childhood. However, the past will haunt the tragic fates of two boys...Prequel to 'Waltz With Me' detailing the genocide of Midgard - not a romance story.
1. Prologue

**:: Disclaimer :: **I do not own or claim to own any of the Yu-Gi-Oh characters featured in this fanfiction!! They are owned by the amazing Kazuki Takahashi and the anime by Studio Gallop. I do not own the music or lyrics to 'Innocence' either, which belong to Chihiro Onitsuka.

**:: A/N :: **Hello! I'm here with another story that will be running at the same time as 'Waltz With Me,' my current and main work-in-progress. I'm not abandoning the other one, and I'm very sorry for the delay in updates! This one has had a hectic schedule the past few weeks and hasn't had time to properly sit down and write.

'Innocence' is actually a prequel to 'Waltz With Me,' detailing the events during the genocide of Midgard that happened 1000 years prior to the beginning of my other story and focusing on the relationship between the young prince Atemu [later Yami no Yugi] and Tōzokuō Bakura, Thief King Bakura. It does contain spoilers to 'Waltz With Me,' but at the same time it could also be read as just a spin-off of the main story or a stand-alone altogether.

Now for warnings...Although the events are loosely based on the original Ancient Egypt arc of the anime and manga in the Yu-Gi-Oh series, 'Innocence' is an alternate universe story so don't expect the story to follow the original manga/anime storyline very closely. This series traces the events during a genocide, so there may be some disturbing elements, though I'll add warnings at the beginnings of chapters that do contain them. Last but not least, there might be hints of an Atemu x Thief Bakura pairing, though nothing's been explicitly stated so you may interpret the relationship as simple platonic or as a romantic couple. Honestly, I don't think it should matter much as this is not a romantic story in any sense, and was not written to be one.

Sorry for the long note! Thank you so much to everyone who is taking the time to read this, and even more so to anyone who leaves a review!

* * *

**Prologue: The End of Time**

"...I'm sorry." A quiet whisper left his lips.

It was as if the rest of the world did not exist, as if the two young men that both lay dying on the ground were the only ones who remained. In truth, the crowds gathered at the ceremony were shouting, crying, and screaming as their king went to meet his death, but to the two of them, the world was silent of anything other than the slowly fading beats of their hearts and their short, shallow breaths. This moment had frozen time for both of them as they no longer felt the pain of their wounds and lived merely as a soul and a collection of emotions that were slowly seeping out of the body that held them.

Deep, violet eyes began to shut, unshed tears fighting to escape. The once beautiful tri-colored hair adorned with gold jewelry was now spread in puddles of blood on the ground, the symbols of power now just heavy, useless metal trinkets. The marks upon his left shoulder, carved during the ceremony earlier, glowed red, draining his life energy bit by bit. His body trembled on the blood and sweat dampened earth even though the sun shone relentlessly upon it. The humid heat of the air did nothing to warm the chilling deadness that had grown in his heart. Although the sun blazed in the summer sky, he felt only the frozen cold of a winter night.

And then those eyes slashed through the ice, tearing at his spirit and numbing any other pain he might have felt, all insignificant compared to the burns that that glare had wrapped his soul in, choking and scarring it for all eternity. Only hatred and anger stared back at him from the depths of those hazel eyes, shaded by locks of dirtied, but once white hair, belonging to the man who lay on the ground only a few feet away from him. They were eyes that had lost all hope and faith in this world, cold eyes that could no longer feel and sympathize, eyes that sought revenge upon those that had destroyed his life.

"I'll never forgive you." The words left his lips, disgust and fury embodied in them. He turned his face away from the boy donned in golden robes and stared instead at the clear blue sky. Suddenly, the expression upon his face twisted into a maniacal laugh. The entire body convulsed and red began dripping from the sides of his mouth, but he continued laughing.

"The end has come for you and me, you who I once called brother! But don't think that this game is over. No, I will never rest until I have destroyed all you held dear, all that you have take from me! The board will be reset…and be assured that I will find your soul through all the years that separate us, and I will torture it until nothing remains." The look that lighted the light brown eyes was pure madness, driven by a violent lust for revenge.

When a slimmer of light began enveloping their bodies, the young king realized too late the reason the thief could speak with such confidence. A curse that had been hidden in the deepest reaches of the spellbound scrolls of the royal library, the darkest magic…to completely bind a soul against the flow of time…It was the only curse that could be cast in the semi-dead state the two of them were in.

"No, you can't…Bakura! BAKURA!" Insane laughter drowned out his weak shouts as the light completely encircled the two of them. For the first time, he noticed the gasps and yells that surrounded them as the bystanders saw the light begin to coil and rise in a multitude of different forms, painting beautiful, but sinister swirls in the air above the two bodies and blinding them of their king and the thief.

"What have you _done_?" The king whispered in horror as he felt his soul being drawn from him. A blade of light left his body and shot upwards towards the clear, blue sky, followed by an identical one emitting from the now completely still and silent body next to him, a mad grin still painted across the face.

And then, time stopped.

_"You stole my innocence… I will hate you, haunt you, find your soul through the infinite time and worlds that separate us, and tear it to pieces. That is the price of the eternity you stole from me and my people."_

_

* * *

_**:: A/N :: **So ends the prologue...The first chapter has already written, but I want to leave this up for a bit before I post the chapter [which also needs some heavy editing for typos, grammatical errors, and such]. Thank you all again for reading!

Wishing you all the best!

~Ying Tao


	2. Chapter 1

**:: A/N :: **Hello, and Happy Christmas to everyone a bit late! This is the first chapter of 'Innocence,' which has been finished for quite a while but I wanted to wait a few days before posting it. I'm currently working on the second chapter of both this story and 'Waltz With Me.' so I'm sorry for the delays but I definitely have no dropper either project! Thank you so much to KrystalMountain for reviewing! It's very encouraging to hear from readers :'D

Now I'm not going to let this note get too long...so on with the chapter! I apologize ahead of time for grammatical errors and typos that I might have missed when editing!

* * *

**Chapter 1**

"_Your thoughtless words are too beautiful and they send shivers down this blackened back of mine."_

_There are many lights that shine in the eyes of a young boy, many hopes and dreams…but mine were shattered. I barely remembered the first eight years of my life. They existed only as flashes of dark red painting the black sky, blood-curling screams echoing and ringing in the air…eyes of that woman, my mother perhaps, glazed over in fear, a little girl, maybe a younger sister, clinging to me, crying and asking questions that no one could answer…They haunted the back of my memory, almost like a bad dream from a different time, a different existence…_

_He was the first real light in my world that lay in pieces around me. A boy just a few years older than me, dressed in gold, while I was in rags, extended a warm hand to me and washed away all my fears, all the ghosts of my past. He brought me back into the world of the living from the numb, comatose state I was in, and showed me the treasures of this life, gave me happiness that I began to take for granted._

_But it was all just another lie. And those memories that had been locked into the back of my mind like a nightmare I didn't want to remember would bring me back to the cruelest reality._

* * *

"He'll be a playmate for Atemu." Akhenamkhanen announced as he looked down at the small boy who stared back, face expressionless.

"But my brother—" Another man with the same face as the king on the throne began to protest, but was interrupted by a new voice.

"I think it's a great idea, Your Majesty." A short, older man, whose face was hidden by a white scarf, spoke. He looked down at the empty-eyed child, pity filling his warm eyes. "The young prince needs a companion, and this boy needs a home."

"My brother, do you think it _wise_ to bring in a suspicious child of unknown origins, who has been loitering in front of the palace, and allow him the honor of being a companion of the heir to the Asgard throne?" Akhenaden glared at Siamun and the nameless boy as if blaming the two of them for corrupting the king with such an idea.

"You know full well where this boy comes from just as His Majesty and I do, Akhenaden-sama." Siamun retorted, grabbing the boy's small, bony shoulders and turning him around so that all could see the black brand of the scorpion on the back of his neck. "Could you turn him away with the knowledge that the blood of his kin is on the royal family's hands? That the reason he now knows no home is because of our selfishness?"

Akhenaden was about to reply when his brother stopped him, holding his hand up in a gesture for silence.

"Akhenaden, Siamun, I honor both your opinions as my advisors, and I thank you both for giving them." Turning to his brother, he shook his head apologetically. "This is one decision that I'm set upon, my brother. There is too much guilt weighed upon my shoulders already for me to abandon this child. And Siamun was right; Atemu is but a year or two older than this boy, and he needs a friend and companion besides just Mahado and Mana, one to stay beside him at all times."

His mouth open and shut in silent protest, but upon looking at the determined expression on the king, Akhenaden decided it would be useless to argue, and simply bowed before leaving the throne room. "As you wish."

After the large door slammed shut, Akhenamkhanen turned to the vizier with a sigh. "Please bring him to Atemu's quarters and introduce the two of them, Siamun. And be sure to give the boy a name."

The elder man nodded. "Certainly, Your Majesty." As he began to leave, following Akhenaden's footsteps from moments earlier, he turned back to the king. "Thank you, Akhenamkhanen-sama. On behalf of the boy."

A tired smile painted the normally stoic features of the king's face. "Don't thank me so soon, Siamun. The boy will grow to curse my name if he ever discovers his past and his family."

"Don't think like that, Your Majesty. No matter what anyone else may say, you saved this boy's life and gave him a chance to live again. What happened in Midgard was the fault of many, not Akhenamkhanen-sama alone. He wouldn't blame you even if he is ever told the truth of what happened." Siamun smiled at the king, bowed, and led the thin, white-haired boy away, closing the heavy doors of the throne room behind him.

* * *

A knock sounded at the door, waking a little boy with spiked hair of red, black, and golden blond. He rubbed his eyes and yawned before pulling on a set of plain white robes adorned at the hems with designs matching the carvings on the stone pillars bordering his room, and pulled open the heavy, soft leather curtains to let some sunlight into his bed chambers. He continued rubbing the sleep from his eyes even as he opened the door to greet his visitor.

"Atemu-sama, I apologize for waking you." The older man smiled kindly at the young prince, whose eyes widened in surprise, pleased in the vizier's visit.

"Siamun!" He almost hugged the man, who had become a grandfather figure to him over the years, before remembering it was not proper. "Why are you visiting so early today? It is not yet time for my lessons yet."

The older man shook his head while smiling at the prince. "All of Atemu-sama's lessons have been cancelled because your mentors are busy preparing for the mid-summer festival. You may go out and play with Mahado-kun and Mana-chan today."

The boy broke into an eager, wide grin. "Really? Thank you so much!" He was about to return to his room to properly dress himself and wash his face in the basin when Siamun spoke again.

"I brought a new friend for Atemu-sama to play with as well. He'll be living here in the palace starting today, and he'll be taking lessons alongside you as well." A little child with a dirty face and messy gray hair, who had previously been hiding behind Siamun's cloak, slowly walked out when Siamun gave him a small push. He stared expressionlessly at the taller, slightly older violet-eyed young prince.

"Oh! A girl?" The new child piqued Atemu's interest, and he mistook the slightly feminine face and long hair as that of a girl's. "Hello! It's nice to meet you, my name Atemu. What's yours?" He smiled and stuck his short arm out in a friendly gesture, offering a handshake. The child however, continued to stare blankly at him.

"Atemu-sama…he is a boy. And I don't believe he is mute, but he hasn't spoken a word since he arrived. Perhaps you can convince him to speak with you."

Violet eyes bore into brown ones as Atemu examined the boy. Then, much to Siamun's surprise, the boy, who had shown no reaction previously to anything that was done to him, let out a small gasp as the prince grabbed the boy's hand and pulled him into the room. "Siamun, I'm going make him wash up a bit first. I want to take him to meet Mahado and Mana and he needs to look at least a bit less like a girl or else Mahado will tease him."

Siamun chuckled at the children as they scurried about the room, or at least Atemu did while the nameless boy just kind of stood there and stared. Atemu looked at him, and waved as the older man winked and shut the door, leaving the prince's rooms.

* * *

"First we need to get you cleaned up and then decide what to do with your hair. I mean no offense, but it's truly a dirty mess right now and unless you clean yourself you'll be scolded by the elders." After making sure the boy was comfortably seated on the bed, Atemu bustled about the room and began pulling out his old clothes that he had grown out of since the boy was considerably smaller than Atemu himself.

He proceeded to look for his stock of fluffy white towels, moving about the organized room in such a mature fashion it was difficult to believe that the boy was not yet ten years old. When the second knock of the morning sounded from the door, Atemu got up from the gold-lined, oak wood drawer he was shuffling through, kicked it shut, and went to check on his visitor. A servant bowed low, carrying a large basin of warm water that she did every morning so that Atemu could clean himself.

"Bring another, please." Atemu requested as the servant girl was about to leave. She did not respond or question the command, but bowed politely, showing that she had heard and would attend to his wishes.

"Now, we can start by washing your face." Atemu shut the heavy wooden door and turned to the still, unmoving child on the bed. Taking out one of the towels in the pile he'd built up from scavenging through his many drawers and cabinets, the prince dipped the cloth into the basin of water and began attempting to wipe the grime and dirt off the younger boy's face.

Suddenly, his hands were slapped away and the eyes that had been empty were now alight with shock and fear. The boy hid his face in the burrow he created as he shrugged his knees towards his chest and wrapped his arms around his legs in a crouched position. He shivered, lifting his face just enough so that his hazel eyes could glare at the prince defensively.

"Hey, calm down! I'm not going to hurt you." Atemu frowned in concern, and then softly began trying to coax the boy to raise his head a bit by tugging on his arm. When he realized that the boy only buried his head deeper in his arms, tensing his body even more, Atemu decided to try a different approach. He held up the warm, damp towel.

"See this? It's not going to hurt you." He gently pressed the cloth against the younger boy's bare arms that hung out of the torn, loose sleeves of his dress-like robes. The boy relaxed, little by little, as the warm cloth cleaned off the mud that had stuck to his skin for lord only knows how long.

"You'll need to be cleaned up if you want to play with us. The elders are very strict about keeping a neat appearance. Mahado and Mana were punished severely once when they came back to the palace with dirt on their shoes." Atemu continued talking softly to the boy as he cleaned off his arms.

At last, after almost ten minutes of coaxing, as he was dipping the dirtied rags into the basin again to wash off the dirt, the grey-haired child finally looked up at him and lifted his head from his knees. Atemu grinned when he saw the motion. The brown eyes remained wary, but there was a glint of curiosity as well as trust in them, and the young prince was pleased with his progress in getting to know his new playmate.

Although he squinted his eyes and tried to turn away as the wet towel made contact with his face, the expression was one of slight annoyance rather than fear. Atemu giggled at his reactions.

"I know, I dislike washing in the morning as well, but you'll feel much nicer after you're all clean, I promise." The prince carefully rubbed the dirt away, avoiding his eyes. "You haven't spoken a word. Do you not understand our language?" Atemu spoke slowly, watching the boy's face for any response. There was none. Sighing, Atemu finished wiping off the last speck of mud from the tanned skin and began running a hand through the tangled, matted hair.

"Well, we will have to teach you. But that will come later since we need to fix your hair first…"

Another knock at the door announced the servant bringing the second basin of water. After accepting it and shutting the door again, Atemu placed this basin on a wooden block on the ground. He motioned for the boy to come over and sit on the cushions that he placed on the floor, and then, once they were both settled, he dunked the head into the basin quickly to wet the hair. The boy jumped a bit in surprise at the warm water surrounding his hair, but he didn't make a sound even as the prince forced his head up again. Then he began running a soap bar through the child's tangled hair, lathering it. This elicited a yelp from the younger boy as a rough comb started to brush through his hair none too gently. Atemu's hands kept him still however, and soon the hair had been smoothened out and he was again laid down on the cushions, back of his head in the warm water. All the soapsuds were washed away before Atemu allowed him to rise again, but the torture of grooming was not quite over yet. This time, a larger towel was brought out and thrown over his hair, drying it off in a process almost as bad as the combing. Atemu would know since the first time he went through the entire procedure with Siamun and a few other servants, it was terrible and he whined the entire hour. After he was satisfied, he tossed the white fabric aside and took out the bone-carved comb out for the second time in the past few minutes, running it through the now much silkier hair.

As the prince stood back to take a good look at his work on the boy, he gasped slightly. The previously dirty, tousled hair now lay in wet, snowy strands, sharply contrasting the deeply tanned skin and making the boy seem all the more beautiful. Suddenly, he couldn't help but not want to cut those lovely locks.

"Maybe we should just keep your hair as it is." He took out a smooth leather strand from the pocket of one of his shirts. "We can tie it up with this so that you won't be mistaken for a girl." Atemu fastened it in a knot, giving the boy a lengthy ponytail. A few strands in the sides fell astray, but because they framed his face so perfectly, Atemu decided to just let them be.

"Now we just need to get your out of those dirty rags and into some decent clothing." Luckily, the boy seemed to understand when Atemu set the robes in front of him and he didn't need any help changing.

* * *

"Nee, Mahado, why is Atemu so late today?" Mana whined, leaning against the pillar at the edge of the prince's palace.

The older boy remained stoic and silent as he simply patted the girl on the head. His childhood friend had yet to show up, which was strange since he was sure the young prince's lessons had been cancelled for the day in preparation for the Midsummer Festival tomorrow night. That meant that Atemu should be joining the two of them to play, so Mahado left the temples where he was training for priesthood to meet up with his friend. Mana had tagged along, abandoning her proper place in the quarters with the other young children, and this was one of the few times Mahado allowed her to do so without scolding her since the festival was almost here. The playful little girl had been a mischievous imp since the day she learned to walk, bored by the strict rules of the palace and always finding methods of escaping from the nursery. She spent many hours during the week in solitary confinement to her room as punishment for jumping fences, playing in the mud, or throwing stones at the elders' studies' windows, distracting them from their work. Even more time was utilized planning getaways from the watchful eyes of the servants managing the nurseries.

Just as Mana began jumping up and down impatiently, tugging on the priest-in-training's long sleeves, a familiar figure with wild, spiked hair of black, red, and gold appeared from the large doors a few hundred feet ahead of them. Atemu's eyes lit up at the sight of the two of them, and he waved and began running towards them. Mahado began raising his own hand in response but then dropped it, knitting his eyebrows together in confusion as he noticed another child following Atemu, dark-skinned like all the other citizens of Asgard but with hair of pure white, tied back in a ponytail that reached his upper back.

The prince rested his palms on his knees, huffing as he came to a stop in front of a squealing and excited Mana and an ever stern and serious Mahado.

"Hey guys! Sorry I'm so late…I didn't know today was free until Siamun stopped by my room this morning."

Mana pouted slightly, still angry that Atemu had taken so long to come out, but then her lips parted into a smile as she hugged and ruffled the crazy hair. Mahado, on the other hand, had raised an eyebrow. An unspoken question was lingering in the air as Mana, too, noticed the white-haired boy that had finally caught up with the prince and now stood before the three friends.

"Ah! I'm sorry, I haven't introduced you guys! This is Mahado and Mana." Atemu pointed at the taller boy and the bright-eyed girl respectively, enunciating their names clearly as if the child couldn't understand. "Umm, he's…he doesn't really have a name, but Siamun brought him to the palace this morning, and he'll be staying here from now on!"

The arched brown eyebrow climbed even higher towards the taller boy's forehead. "Why is he staying in the palace? And in one of the rooms of the prince's quarters no less…"

Atemu shrugged. "Siamun says that he's to be my new playmate and he'll be taking lessons with me as well…maybe like a little brother! But either way, that means he'll be—"

"Why doesn't he talk?" Mana interrupted rudely, earning herself a harsh glare from Mahado. She was waving her hand in front of the new boy, who simply blinked but didn't make a sound.

"I'm not sure, and neither is Siamun…he's not mute since I heard him make some sounds earlier. I don't think he understands our language."

"So he's a _foreigner_ then?" Mahado now glanced at the kid, who was really but a year or so younger than him at most, with a gleam in his eye as if examining a threat.

"Don't worry Mahado! I'm sure Father, Siamun, and the rest of the court wouldn't have allowed him in if they suspected him of any danger." Atemu grinned. "We should give him a name though since it seems like he doesn't have one."

"I sense a darker _ka_ coming from him…" Mahado muttered under his breath. "It's probably just the premonition of an inexperienced priest though." He placed his thoughts aside, though, as his young friend began to speak.

"His hair is so white and pretty…" Mana reached out to touch it, stroking its soft texture.

"Hmm…" Mahado mused over the issue of a name. Naming was an important ritual for children, for it would give the child an identity and destiny. He was amazed that the king and high priests had not already bestowed one upon this boy, but then again they might have wanted to save the honor of it for the prince. Or maybe the boy simply wasn't important enough for them to give it any thought. "Glorious. He might be silent now, but living with the crown prince means that he will have to become strong and outspoken."

"Bakura!" The two boys turned to look at Mana who was grinning. "It's a name from the lands east of Asgard. I heard it from a traveling merchant the other day, the name of one of his sons. It means 'glory' or 'thunderbolt.'"

"Such a strange name." Mahado commented.

"It fits him though!" Atemu looked down at the curious brown eyes. He pointed at himself. "Atemu." Then he pointed at the boy's chest and said "Bakura." Bakura, as the kid had now been named, looked up at the prince then at the finger that was pointing at him without a single change in his expression.

Mahado sighed. _This is going to be a long day._

Mana, impatient as always, began running from their spot at the entrance of the Northern Palace, belonging to the prince and a few priest-in-trainings, towards the gates that lead out into the city.

"Hurry up! We have to be home early tonight to help in preparations for the celebration tomorrow so we have to get moving now!" She then tossed a small bag of coins to Mahado and Atemu. When they looked at her in confusion, she simply winked. "From the mistress of the children's quarters. She wasn't keeping very good track of her money. And besides, I know that Mahado doesn't have a penny on him and Atemu's not allowed to bring his outside the palace."

Mahado rolled his eyes but before he was able to begin reprimanding the girl, she had already run off. He quickly followed, with Atemu close behind him, dragging Bakura by the hand with them. As they passed the guards, Mana stuck a strongly acidic-smelling cloth under their noses before they could protest against letting the kids out of the palace. Their eyes rolled back into their head as they fainted, and Mana laughed as she tried to magic the huge, heavy-set doors of the Northern Palace open. Unfortunately, the young spell-caster's powers could just barely move the doors. Sighing, Mahado muttered a few words under his breath, focusing his _ka_ to open the gate in front of them. He considered this a test of what he had learned from his years living and training in the temples. Sure enough, the doors opened and, with a shout and several high-fives, the four left to explore the city outside of the palace domains.

* * *

Standing nearby in the shadows of the palace pillars, the old court advisor smiled, watching over the children. The prince, the priest, the young spellcaster…and the refugee, the little boy from Midgard…the four of them wouldn't be able to play in such carefree ways for much longer. He hoped sincerely for them to remain cheerful and innocent while time allowed them to be…

The look in his eyes darkened as he heard a crash from the throne room, followed byseveral maids screaming his name. _That illness has attacked again…Please, my lord, just stay strong for a bit longer. Atemu-sama is not yet ready…not yet ready…_

He left his place from where he had been keeping an eye on the children and took quick strides to where his presence was needed at the side of his monarch.

* * *

**:: A/N :: **I sincerely hope that this first chapter wasn't a disappointment for everyone! It was hard to write and was done in pieces over the course of several days, so there might have been errors that I didn't quite catch...if I missed anything, please leave a review informing me! This story's a particularly special one for me...and I'm definitely going to try my hardest to finish it. I've already gotten a head start on the second chapter, so hopefully that will be out soon! Thank you everyone for bearing with me and reading, and as always, please review, whether or not you liked it! I appreciate any feedback :'D

Wishing you all the best!

~Ying Tao


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